100 years ago people were imprisoned for opposing conscription and war.

15 December 2016 marks 100 years since the first “sedition” conviction after opposing military conscription during World War I was made illegal. Bob Semple, later a Labour Cabinet Minister, was sentenced in Christchurch to one year in jail for a “seditious utterance”. Similar sentences were imposed later that month on other leading labour figures, including a future NZ Prime Minister Peter Fraser. Altogether, over the next two years 67 New Zealanders were imprisoned for sedition, including Maori from the Waikato.

Our event is outside Mt Eden jail to commemorate the people who were imprisoned inside it, plus six Huntly miners convicted for a “seditious strike”. Most prominent among those jailed in Mt Eden was James Thorn, later a Labour Cabinet Minister.